Credit: Ramazan Rashidov / TASS
A Russian court sentenced five men to prison over a mass antisemitic riot in 2023 at an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region of Russia. The decision was made at the end of August and has now been confirmed by the appeal court
The men received sentences ranging from six to nine years in the first convictions related to the incident. At least 80 people were detained and more than 150 suspects identified last year after pro-Hamas rioters stormed Makhachkala Uytash Airport seeking to lynch Jewish travelers.
A plane from Tel Aviv had landed in the North Caucasus city amid the Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip sparked by the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. invasion and massacre of some 1,200 people.
More than 20 people were injured during the riot, including nine police officers, two of whom were hospitalized.
Video footage showed rioters with PLO flags shouting Allahu akbar (“God is great”) as they hunted through the terminals for Israeli passengers.
The mob converged on the airport after a message on Telegram urged Dagestanis to confront the “uninvited guests.” The channel, which was later banned by Telegram, referred to the plane’s Jewish passengers as being “unclean”.
In June, more than a dozen police officers and several civilians were killed by terrorists who opened fire at a synagogue and a church in the coastal city of Derbent in Dagestan.
The state-run RIA Novosti outlet reported that both buildings caught fire, adding that the synagogue, one of the last in Dagestan, burned down.
